Romanais Blog

April 30th, 2020

30/4/2020

6.5K ran before breakfast. We ran a little further today because.................

............we realised last night we were at 96 miles. Another 4 miles or 6.5K would put us at 100 miles for the month of April!

So, this months stats - 100 MILES!!!!!!!!!!!! Ran for 25 of 30 days and spent 17 hours and 5 minutes running.

Year to date -
* 89 runs
* time spent - 57 hours and 33 minutes
* Distnace 550 KM or 341.7 miles

A plain meringue made today after last weeks baking fail when I added food colouring. The before.

The after.

Added three simple May Roses to the wreath I crocheted a cover for yesterday.

Todays simple pleasures -
* a Zoom call with Laura, Sarah, Gilly, Karen, Rachel and Sue
* cake and custard for pudding to warm us up
* it stopped raining long enough to do "Clap for our Carers"tonight. Roman was out bashing the old frying pan which is now very bashed!

April 29th, 2020

29/4/2020

5K run before breakfast. Cold and damp today.

We had a bit of a drama before we left this morning when I put my running shoes on and my big toe was poking out of the mesh! Had to do a quick sewing repair job and Mark stuck electrical tape over it to secure it. New trainers ordered this afternoon and being delivered on Sunday. I have worn these ones out!

I found this small polystyrene wreath in the cupboard so I've crocheted a cover for it and will make some flowers for it tomorrow.

Todays simple pleasures -
* another day spent in pyjamas (was cold and damp when I got in from my run)
* hearing the rain on the conservatory roof
* Anais did her college work
* spoke to Val (our previous next door neighbour) for a long time

April 28th, 2020

28/4/2020

No run this morning - heavy rain. I got up at 6am, opened the bedroom curtains and window and stayed in bed until 6.30am listening to the rain. We got up at 6.30am and had porridge.

Forgot yesterday Roman put his Lego video on Youtube.

Another "Springs Arrival Infinity Scarf" finished - colours are Stylecraft Special DK in cream, mocha, soft peach, grape, camel, walnut, soft rose and stone.

Another rainbow made.

Another rainbow made tonight.

Five rainbows done in total to give to Jenny tomorrow for her to donate.

Todays simple pleasures -
* an extremely slow day, whole day spent in my pyjamas
* finished the chocolate cake off
* postcard received from Roman earlier today

April 27th, 2020

27/4/2020

5K run before breakfast. Much cooler this morning and very overcast.

I've been playing in the kitchen this morning and made these to to go on some biscuits or cake for Romans birthday.

I used the last of the icing up to make these.

A chocolate cake made with a crushed up Aero bar on the top.

Got this far with adding cream to the scarf.

Todays simple pleasures -
* Roman finished his work just after lunch so him and Anais moved their computers to the table in the living room and played nicely all afternoon
* turned into a nice warm and sunny day after the initial threat of rain

April 26th, 2020

26/4/2020

No run this morning as we did 11K yesterday. We still got up early though, had breakfast early and did a few jobs that needed doing around the house.

Another rainbow made.

This dartboard was bought just for the darts when we stayed at at Stouts Hill years ago and has never been used. Mark put it on the shed so Anais and Roman could play in the sun.

Roman made three Lego Mini cars and the Lorry. Next weekend he wants to try and make a Lego stop motion movie of "The Italian Job".

After lunch we watched the 2003 version of the film.

Fudge chocolate pots made for pudding tonight.

I have been making yarn tassels for Romans birthday. need to finish the ones on the left tomorrow.

Todays simple pleasures -
* Mark did some work on his model plane
* we all sat down to watch "The Italian Job" together
* had a cinnamon bun out of the freezer after lunch
* another nice warm day and the washing dried on the line again
* the sound of rain on the conservatory roof this evening

April 25th, 2020

25/4/2020

11K (6.8 miles) ran before breakfast. Much cooler today. Once around the reservoir and back through Woodgate, up past Asda and back through the park. Day off tomorrow to rest our legs (it is supposed to rain tomorrow anyway).

Our splits -
* 1 to 4 are around the reservoir
* split 5 is down the reservoir to Bartley Green
* Splits 6 and 7 are up Bartley Green hill and up the hill at Woodgate
* splits 8 and 9 are down Clapgate Lane and to Asda
* split 10 is up the hill past Asda
* split 11 is through the park

We had a picnic lunch in the garden and pretended we were in the caravan.

A crochet rainbow made. Pattern here.

Mark and Roman have been making another Lego video. Sneak peek! To be finished tomorrow.

I mowed the lawn, Anais strimmed around the edges.

Anais decorated the patio with chalk she found in the summer house.

Another crochet rainbow made tongiht.

Pudding tonight, strawberries, meringue and ice-cream.

Todays simple pleasures -
* a nice, warm and sunny day
* ate tea (pizza and wedges) in front of the TV while we watched the new "Men in Black" film
* watched the final edit of Romans video tonight which he is proud of and enjoyed doing
* getting Anais out of her bedroom to help do the back garden

April 24th, 2020

24/4/2020

5K ran before breakfast. Another lovely morning. So much more pleasant to run now than in winter, it puts me in a good mood every morning for the rest of the day.

Another scarf started, colours used so far - mocha, soft peach, grape, camel, walnut, antique rose and stone. 70 rows done, 10 of each colour.

Pudding tonight, meringue, strawberries and ice cream.

Our Asda click and collect order didn't turn out so good today. Mark had to collect it at 5pm but had to wait for 25 minutes for it to be brought out to the car. Then they gave him the wrong bag of frozen food - good job he noticed before he got home. It was FISH and we do not eat fish. Then he had to wait for the person to come back down with the next persons shopping and for them to take the bag of fish away and come back with our frozen food. He was gone about 45 minutes in total (last week was about 15 minutes). It was still better than having to queue to get into and shop in an actual store though. All was good though and we were pleased with our substitutions which were all sensible.

Anais had some more filament delivered for her 3D pen and was doing something as a "surprise" which she wouldn't show us. She brought this down to show us earlier what she has made so far. It is a Pokemon.

Todays simple pleasures -
* an Asda click and collect shop collected and full cupboards, we have another shop for next Friday and another for the Friday after too
* a nice warm day, bed linen dried on the washing line
* both washing baskets - EMPTY!
* a nice and clean bed to get into tonight
* at 6pm we watched live on Youtube "We are Stars" - from the National Space Centre - a show they usually put on in the planetarium. Roman really enjoyed it, Anais not so much.
* another family meeting tonight - no-one is bored of them yet and we have kept them up every night since we went into lockdown on March 23rd. Everyone feels the benefit of talking about whats good about our day, what we can do to improve/change things, talking about what we are worried about and grateful for and anything else that is on our mind.

April 23rd, 2020

23/4/2020

5K ran before breakfast. A nice way to start the day when the weather is warm and bright.

Another "Spring Arrival Infinity Scarf" finished. Colours are Stylecraft Special DK in walnut, mocha, cream and antique rose. 5.5mm hook.

A meringue made for pudding to eat over the weekend. A bit of a fail though as I added pink food colouring and it wouldn't whisk thick. Next time I will stick to plain.

Todays simple pleasures -
* a zoom call to catch up with Karen, Rachel, Helen, Sarah, Gilly, Deb and Laura
* another nice warm and sunny day

Tonight we took part in "Clap for our Carers" again. Lots of noise in our street, especially from Roman and his frying pan.

April 22nd, 2020

22/4/2020

We had a bit of drama on our run this morning! 5K ran before breakfast.

We were almost home when Mark realised he had a hole in his pocket and the house key had fallen out. We ran back the way we had come from and eventually found the key at the beginning of the park, approx at the end of the fourth kilometre into our run.

I took the opportunity to take some photos of the park as we walked back home. it is lovely.

Roman put his Lego video on Youtube.

I got this far with another "Springs arrival infinity scarf".

Yorkshire puds made for the freezer.

Another eight oat flour pancakes made. Half went in the freezer, we ate the other half stacked with chocolate spread and topped with ice-cream.

Anais had a conference call with college and finished this.

Todays simple pleasures -
* finding the key after it got lost!
* everyone received the cards we posted them
* another warm day
* had every window in the house open to let some nice fresh air in

April 21st, 2020

21/4/2020

We were out before 7am this morning and only came across two dogs walkers when we came back through the park. 5K done before breakfast.

Spot the ducks. Also, look at the blue sky!

I finished the infinity scarf. Stylecraft Special DK in lemon, duck egg, cream and wisteria. 5.5mm hook. Pattern is "The Springs Arrival Infinty Scarf". Loved making t, such a nice pattern so I'm going to do another.

Todays simple pleasures -
* seeing ducks swimming on the reservoir when we ran past
* the cat stalking the squirrel when we came out of the park
* lunch eaten in the garden, Mark and Anais had cheese and crackers, I had cheese on toast and Roman had scrambled egg on toast